Sponsor A Monk

The Tibetan Monk Sponsorship Program

Below you will find Tibetan monks who need sponsors. They are mostly newcomers from Tibet who walked across the Himalayas risking their lives in search of education, while some of them are orphans or from poor families from Himalayan Region. We are asking your help by choosing one or more of the monks to sponsor. Just a fifteen US dollars a month, per monk, that goes a long way to India and helps the monks in their needs such as clothing, books, medical and dental costs and other daily necessities. We believe that this is a wonderful opportunity to practice your compassion and generosity.

A sponsor has the option of sending their check directly to the address in India, listed next to the photo of their monk, each month, or they can send it to any of the address below. There is also the option of sending a $45.00 check to cover three months or a $90.00 check to cover six months or $180 for a year. You can also do it through western union /Money change which is faster and safer. The address of your monk is provided next to his name bellow. Please do not send cash! It is best not to include photos in the same letter with the check. Another security tip that has been a success for us is to mail the letter at the post office with postal tape rather than stamps. We have heard that cash and useful presents by ordinary post tempt thieves. Your check should be made out to the name of your monk and that is safe.

Please be sure to include your name and return address so that your monk can write a card to you from time to time, especially if they have started their English classes in the monastery’s secondary school. It is heart-warming to get to know these devoted Dharma students, and you can be sure that they will have a greater motivation to learn English when it means that they will be able to write to their sponsor.

After choosing a monk, please email to Jocelyn Paluch at jocepaluch@comcast.net and Venerable Geshe Phelgye at tphelgye@universalcompassion.org or if needed call Jocelyn at 509-290-5096 so she can keep track of the monks and their sponsors and avoid duplications. As soon as a monk is sponsored, the sponsor’s name (only) will appear next to the monk on the website, unless you would like it to read “anonymous.” If we can be of any help to you, add clarity or answer questions, please write or call:

Jocelyn Paluch
6903 S. Shelby Ridge Road
Spokane, WA 99224
509-290-5096
jocepaluch@comcast.net

Thank you for your contribution in helping all fellow sentient beings by supporting the Buddha dharma.

Sponsor Lobsang Gyaltsen through UCC Lobsang Gyaltsen (#58)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Bagchak Tsering through UCC Bagchak Tsering (#66)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Ngawang Gyatso through UCC Ngawang Gyatso (#70)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Tsering Dhondup through UCC Tsering Dhondup (#74)
House No. 36
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Lobsang Ngawang through UCC Lobsang Ngawang (#75)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Tenzin Gyatso through UCC Tenzin Gyatso (#76)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Lobsang Dargyal through UCC Lobsang Dargyal (#79)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Lobsang Tenzin through UCC Lobsang Tenzin (#80)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Lobsang Thapkay through UCC Lobsang Thapkay (#85)
House No. 35
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Lobsang Jinpa through UCC Lobsang Jinpa (#86)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Tsewang Tashi through UCC Tsewang Tashi (#97)
House No. 52
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Lobsang Kunga through UCC Lobsang Kunga (#101)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Lobsang Nhendag through UCC Lobsang Nhendag (#102)
House No. 52
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Jampa Chophel A through UCC Jampa Chophel A (#110)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Jampa Chophel B through UCC Jampa Chophel B (#111)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Losang Chogyel through UCC Losang Chogyel (#113)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Losang Dargye through UCC Losang Dargye (#114)
House No. 52
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Losang Dawa through UCC Losang Dawa (#115)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Losang Gyatso through UCC Losang Gyatso (#116)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Losang Khedup through UCC Losang Khedup (#117)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Losang Rabten through UCC Losang Rabten (#118)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Losang Tseten through UCC Losang Tseten (#119)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Ngawang Nyima through UCC Ngawang Nyima (#120)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India		 Sponsor Norbu through UCC Norbu (#121)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India
Sponsor Sonam Wangden through UCC Sonam Wangden (#122)
House No. 55
Sera-Jey La Khangtsen
P.O.Bylakuppe 571104
Karnataka, India

Tibetan Buddhist Monastic University in Exile in Southern India

Today Tibetan Buddhism and the Tibetan culture are threatened with extinction in their original country. Dharma, or the practice of Buddhism, was so prevalent in Tibet previous to 1959 that many Tibetan families sent their children to study at the local monastery. Lay people attended ceremonies in their local monasteries and practiced rituals and prayers in their own homes. The Tibetan culture is a culture that is inseparable from its spirituality.

Today, due to the severe conditions for the Tibetan people inside of Tibet, many who wish to follow their cultural and spiritual heritage by becoming monks and nuns find no safe place to openly study Dharma. Under the repressive Chinese government regime they are not allowed to study Buddhist teachings, which are historically an integral part of the Tibetan culture. Part of the Communist regime’s policy in Tibet is to have patriotic re-education programs in which Tibetans are forced to pledge allegiance to the motherland and denounce H.H. the Dalai Lama as a villain, a jackal, an enemy of the state and a splitist. This is a mortification to Tibetans who have great devotion to H.H. the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and temporal leader of all Tibetans. When they do not denounce His Holiness, they are usually imprisoned and tortured, sometimes for many years.

Monasteries inside of Tibet were demolished during the Maoist cultural revolution following the fall of Lhasa in 1959. These seats of high learning nearly ceased to exist. Repressive Chinese policies often killed the high Lamas, monks and nuns, and suppressed Buddhist education.

Three of the largest monastic universities were Sera, Drepung and Gaden which were of the Gelug linage, which H.H. the Dalai Lama belongs. These city-sized monastic universities were located on the outskirts of the Tibetan capital Lhasa, each housing tens of thousands of monks. These were the centers of high learning of the spiritual arts and sciences of Buddhism. Their unbroken lineages went back to great spiritual saints and luminaries such as Tsongkapa and Padmasambhava, and of course, originating with the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni.

Shortly after H.H. the Dalai Lama’s secret escape, during the bloody massacre in 1959. The Indian government generously gave tracts of land in a number of locations in India for Tibetan exile communities. In 1970, two hundred acres of land of Bylakuppe Tibetan refugee camp were given to three hundred monks of Sera monastery. Now, forty years later, Sera monastery has grown so large that it is home to over six thousand monks and is still growing rapidly. The entire two hundred acres is now covered with buildings leaving no space for farming.

The escape from Tibet into India is a dangerous journey over the tall and snowy Himalaya mountains. Frostbite, hunger, and being shot or imprisoned by the Chinese soldiers are all great hazards. The ones who do successfully find their way to Tibetan exile communities and monasteries often arrive sick and hungry and have no money or sponsors. Some need to have one or more toes amputated due to frostbite and freezing in the Himalayas. But they arrive full of enthusiasm and fervor to have the precious opportunity to devote their lives to higher learning and the study of Tibetan Buddhism. To be free to become monks or nuns or to take the extensive training to become a teacher with a Geshe degree in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition makes these sacrifices and risks worthwhile.

Venerable Geshe Thupten Phelgye of Sera Jey-Monastic University, Founder of Universal Compassion Movement, Member of Tibetan Parliament in Exile, has been traveling tirelessly around the world with his message of Universal Compassion and now giving people an opportunity to exercise their generosity by helping a Tibetan refugee monk through his sponsorship program.

Western friends and students of Geshe Phelgye have come up with their support to Dharma and Tibetan cause by supporting monastic education through sponsorship program. Hence if we can be of any help to you in this regard, please write or call

Lori Lindman

Coordinator, Universal Compassion Movement
1111 W. 10th Avenue

Spokane, WA 99204
USA

lorilindman@earthlink.net
(509)990-4580

On behalf of Venerable Geshe Phelgye’s Universal Compassion Movement and his Western students and friends, we deeply thank you for your kind support.